Out of Country views

20130126


Hello to ALL,

I have been out of town(and country)for the past few months and have missed for the most part much of what has happened in the Homeland. TV provides a look but from what I can tell only if it effects Europe. The death of Norman Schwarzkoph I saw on Face Book(FB)but never on the news channels, CNN-Europe, Bloombergs or CNBC-Europe and I looked I may add. The internet is slow and with a limited time research isn’t high up on my list. If I see it on FB then I can look. I would like to think the friends I have on FB give me a good overall view but in fact but I will tell you it lacks balance. I have always viewed myself as a true liberal thinking person and middle of the road being willing and able to look at all sides of an issue with an open mind and THEN choosing what to support and not. I will also support your right to Free Speech and hope you would do the same. From what I see on FB it looks like a number of Bills at the Federal level are looking to change the simple statement of the second amendment as to the Right to Bear Arms. In looking what is posted I see little to nothing in support of this move but at the same time much against it and that is fine(see free speech). What does concern me is much of what I read does not support a reason to not support it as it is an attack on those who propose the new laws and ties it to every issue that could be connected to. One I saw linked being Anti-Gun and being Pro-Choose as a conflict. Sorry to tell some of you I am Pro-Choose and at the same time I support Families and Kids. The children in our house were raised to think not to follow blindly and to act on what they feel. We tried to educate but not dictate and I think both turned out OK.



Many people have to link an issue to a label; Conservative vs. Liberal and that and OLNY that looks to be the only focus they use. It looks like when one side can not find a good and clear cut argument for their side it then it become and attack on the other side I give you the movie “WAG THE DOG”, my favorite part was the “B3”, every time one side needed to redirect focus to buy them self’s time and tie-up the focus of the other side we heard about the “B3”. Worked in the movie works in real life.



We still have a BUDGET issue but it looks on FB and the News(both sides I may add)like that has gone in favor of Gun-Control. I would ask ALL branches to Focus on issues. Changing Gun laws will not fix the Mental Health or other issues that make some feel this is what they need to do to be seen and heard. Focus on the issues as a single point not something you can hang amendments to that have nothing to do with the real issue and drive up the cost. What I see we need is not more Government but More Efficient Government and if it comes at the cost of more oversight to get rid of the dead weight so be it, if you cost us 40,000 dollars a year(3.5X40,000=140,000 an old aerospace way of figuring true cost)and you saved us 150,000 a year we just made us 10,000 dollars and you still have a job next year. I know it sounds simple but that is just me, one who is willing to look at both sides of a fence.



Don’t look to the past. After the 2012 Elections I keep hearing we lost because we did not focus on the right groups of people and we need to do better in that area next time to win. Maybe a better idea is to have a better overall message so you don’t need focus on one group. To focus on one group to get there vote as a block to me sounds like buying votes, and yes both sides did it, I think one was just more consistent than the other.



We should have a “Government of the People, by the People and For the People” what I see is a “Government of the winning people, by the winning people and for the winning people”. Our Government is made up of three equal branches to work in balance think of it as a seesaw one side gets to heavy it tilts, two side get to heavy it breaks. Just my thoughts. Replies Welcome(in your own words)

It has been sometime.

It has been sometime and lots have happened. The really big news two Grandaughters. More new a Grandson (we are told) is on the way. Last time around we, Peggy and I had 2 dogs and birds. Sad news we lost two of the birds but gained a dog, Pica. This happened about a year ago when as now I was in S.E. Italy. I noticed by the bank statements we had vet bill and call to find which of the dogs was sick. I was told "all our dogs are fine". Sounds like a Bill Clinton answer to me but the I found out "Pica" was just a visitor. I know my wife and I know that was a true statement for about one second. So I got to meet Pica at LAX on my return from Italy. Just a little sweetie.

This is how I spent my Christmas getting back on the blog thing. More soon really...

Oct. 02, 2010

Hello to All,

I guess I should really get back to this. I am out of Iraq but still in a Desert site away from home. My Grand Daughter Hailey has taken her first steps so can dance be far off? From the video we see she seems to like to get from “A” to “B” and back again. Let see two men “A” and “B”, name that movie.

Looking at what a number of my High School persons are saying (posting) is really interesting. My time just out of High School was the start of the end (but we didn’t know it) of Viet Nam. My path was different as I joined the Coast Guard with a number of the guys in my class getting drafted and the girls seemed to just move on. It took its toll on a number of them and later in life most of my fellow workers served and we all seem to have a common bond but we may not have known it at that time. Years later I find myself working with people who I can be their Grandfather not as the old dude but as equals. Somehow when they find out my age (62) a look of “No Shit” fills their faces. One 19 year old looked at me and said my Dad couldn’t keep up with you and he is 40. Today those who never seemed to think much about anything are now on the bandwagon about how our Country is being run. So focused on what is going on they never look at what has happened, how did we get here? Many are willing to “repost” stories as it was their own life. I have no major problem with this but it is all you hear from them. I would like to know how they feel not a cut and paste from someone whom I will never meet. SORRY but get a real life.

Each day I get to work with people who signed up to put their Life on the line for all of us and that is worth more than anything money can buy. At the end of the day when ALL of our people return unharmed and the aircraft we had as their shadows land it does not get much better except to see a photograph of them back home in the arms of those who Love and Missed them.

Thank you to all who serve in whatever roll, we all need each other and I for one will never forget. War is the result of Politicians failing to do the job they were elected to do.

I owe my Freedom to those who were, and are willing to serve and in nameless places were willing to commit unspeakable acts to protect and keep it alive.

Dane Walker

Travels

I have been following a young girl, Abby Sunderland, as she sails around the world. It got me thinking about travel. What was the first trip you remember taking? Mine was when my parents moved from Grosse Pointe Mich. to California in 1951 (I think). We stopped in Yellowstone and I remember eating pancakes. Over the years many other trips were taken and each time I seem to remember more. Some time later in life the roll changed and I became the one doing the driving. Peggy and I have a motorhome, Da Moose, and with the kids, Tiana and Justin we spent some wonderful summer trips. Looking back I now see the difference between my first trip and the "Moose" trips. As my Father drove we looked out the window and saw the country going by, a radio (AM) was about all we had other than each other and a deck of cards. Today it is so different. Everyone has their own music player and DVD player. Cell phones and texting to keep up with our Friends so we are never away. At one time you would stop for a cold drink and the Big Orange on the road side now it is all carried in your car and one of the most important things you need are batteries or a charger cable. I look at Abbys trip and feel how would a 16 year old of 40 years ago have made this trip, it would have been different. I live with the latest "High-Tec" items and at the same time I still like looking out the window. She is doing something few would try and unlike Shackelton we know how she is doing and travel with her. Sail On Abby and from time to time shut down some of the Comms system and just enjoy the view.

from the Deserts of Iraq
around 34°40' 20"N x 043°33' 00"E

Why ?

I think if it were easy everyone would do it. Writing is not high-up on my list of things to do and if I don't do it i'll never get better. Thank for looking in and seeing what I come up with, time shall tell.

As "Ted Baxter" might of said, It all started at a netbook keyboard in Tikrit Iraq...